I try not to charge fast food on a card, so I always use cash. If I don’t have enough cash and I feel like being a cheap, I’ll be forced to simply eat very little.

If I only have $1 and some change, I can get something from the value menu at most fast food places. This generally isn’t enough for a dinner…but if you’ve only got a dollar to spare, it’s the best way to fill your stomach on the cheap!

1.) Get the biggest thing with the most nutritional value for your money.My last poor man meal was at Taco Bell where I got the 1/2 pound Beef Burrito because it contains lots of satisfying meat and costs $1.40 after tax.

2.) Get water.

3.) Slow down the entire eating process.This is the trickiest part. When hungry it’s hard to slow down eating, but there are a couple of simple tricks to it. Make sure to put the burrito (or whatever) down after each bite, this stops the temptation of taking your next bite too quickly. Take sips of water, read a book etc.. Overall, it should take between 15-20 minutes to finish the whole thing. I have no scientific proof behind it, but it’s the only way to get myself full from a single value menu item.

In the U.S. we’re so used to eating such large quantities, that sometimes we forget it only takes relatively little to fill a stomach. Simply slowing down the eating process makes you feel much more full!

For example, to kill the time between bites I’ll bring stuff to occupy myself.

Of course if you’ve got the means to cook, Ramen is still cheaper, but for me it doesn’t satisfy hunger because it lacks almost any nutritional value.

Ha! When I was in the USA in 2002 I remember living off $1 Burgers from McDonalds. From what I remember it was a special burger and wasn’t quite a Bic Mac or a Cheeseburger.

Now back in Australia, if i’m in for an especially cheapo meal I would buy a Cheeseburger for AUD$2 (US$1.50) and then whip out my VIP card (valid for two years) which I bought from eBay which gives me free small fries.

Yes, a friend of mine who studied traditional chinese medicine told me a few days ago that the feeling of being full comes only after 15 minutes after eating. Thus eating slowly also leads to eating less .

Neville, here’s what I do if I want to eat really cheap but well. I’ll just tell you about the best meat alternative around and forget about balancing your diet for now (this assumes that you have an oven and a refrigerator). It’s simply roast chicken.

Up here in Shelton, Washington you can generally get a whole roast chicken (a good one at that) or a bag of hind quarters for 47-59 cents a pound (you may have to shop a little, but Walmart always seems to come through). A 4.5-pound chicken would then cost $2.66 or less. And you’d get about 5 entrees out of it, so that’s 53 cents per entree.

Perhaps chicken costs more where you are, but if you put quality in the picture that burrito was comparatively expensive in any case.